Prompt · Structured prompt · Skill
Skill or Prompt?
Roughly 40% of AI time goes to prompting tasks that a structured skill, action, or MCP would handle better. Six questions locate your task on the spectrum — from open conversation to a callable, reproducible capability.
Questionnaire
Your verdict
How the three patterns differ
When the read leans toward "skill," these are the shapes it takes. The best builders blend both modes — start conversational, then lock in structure once the pattern proves itself.
GPT Actions
Translate natural-language requests into JSON schemas for RESTful API calls. Suited to data retrieval and cross-app tasks — querying a warehouse, filing a ticket. OpenAI docs
Claude tool use
A contract between your app and the model: you define operations and their input/output shapes, Claude decides when to call them, results feed back into the loop. Anthropic docs
MCP servers
Infrastructure-level extensions using the open Model Context Protocol — standalone local or cloud processes that give agents new capabilities. SkillsIndex